Region mourns ten people lost in plane crash

Ten people died in a plane crash on Thursday, February 6, when a Bering Air Cessna Caravan flying between Unalakleet and Nome went down about 34 miles southwest of Nome. There were no survivors.
The Bering Air commuter flight 445 was reported missing on Thursday afternoon after its last contact at 3:18 p.m. According to Nome Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jim West Jr., the pilot of the plane then told Anchorage Air Traffic Control that he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared.

The search
By 3:20 p.m. the FAA issued a Search and Rescue Alert Notice for the Bering Air Cessna 208B. A Bering Air helicopter went looking for the airplane but poor weather conditions forced it to turn around due to low visibility and heavy icing conditions. “That left our initial search to be on the ground,” West said. NVFD SAR activated 15 search responders to canvass the shoreline and inland areas. A White Mountain search and rescue crew team of 11 were coming from the east.
They ran into the same unfavorable conditions, with blowing snow and ice fog in the Topkok blowhole reducing visibility to about 50 feet. “We coordinated with the state and federal agencies to get resources out there to help us,” West said. “We were assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard C130, along with the US Air Force C130 that evening.”
As night fell, no sign of the missing plane was found.
The search resumed early the next morning.
With improved weather conditions on Friday, the Coast Guard sent another C-130 plane and a Jayhawk to search the area. Bering Air launched two King Air planes with spotters. The National Guard dispatched a Black Hawk helicopter to search the sea ice for signs of the plane.
The searchers were briefed by the National Weather Service office, forecasting a 24-hour window of time of favorable weather and good visibility. Then, another round of snow, low visibility and freezing rain was expected.
The FBI assisted with technology to locate the plane through cell phone tracking.
The missing plane’s Emergency Locator Transmitter has not communicated or sent off signals and hence not leaving a clue where the plane may be.
In a noon media briefing Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said that flight radar showed that at about 3:18 p.m. Thursday, “this aircraft experienced some type of event, which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed.”

The plane is found
By 1 p.m. a Coast Guard helicopter and a C-130 rapidly approached Nome, headed for the airport.
Shortly after, the Coast Guard first issued the news that an “item of interest” was found and then, that the Bering Air plane was found.
Lt. Cmdr. Mike Salerno with the U.S. Coast Guard District 17 reported that an air crew on a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter located the aircraft on the ice, about 34 miles southeast of Nome. When the air crew located the wreckage, they lowered two rescue swimmers to investigate the scene. In a phone call with the Nugget, Salerno said the rescue swimmers could see several deceased bodies in the forward part of the wreckage, but the remaining portions of the wreckage were too damaged to see into. He said the plane was so damaged that they ruled out any possibility of survival. “Our condolences are with the families and the communities,” he said, dashing all hope of finding survivors.
After the plane was found, the mission turned from a search and rescue to a recovery effort. Nome SAR volunteers were airlifted out to the crash site via helicopter to bring the bodies home. West said in an update at City Hall at 5 p.m. that search and rescue volunteers were out on the ice “trying to get everything situated so we can bring the folks home.” He said they only have a window of 18 hours as bad weather was forecasted again, with high winds and blowing snow. “The other obstacle that we have is the National Guard cannot fly during night, so we'll have to wait,” he said. The volunteers were flown by helicopter to the site, which he said is the safest and fastest way to get out there, a 15 minute flight from the hangar in Nome. West said the plane crashed on ice that he described as slushy, young ice and not stable at all. “It’s a dynamic situation,” he said. West Jr. told the Nugget that two Pave Hawk helicopters were in the area deploying U.S. Air Force Pararescue specialists carrying out recovery efforts.
By Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to Nome to begin the investigation. NTSB investigator Clint Johnson reported that a contingent of investigators headed to Alaska consisting of nine people, of nine different disciplines. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy also arrived in Alaska and traveled to Nome on Saturday. Homendy spoke to the press on Saturday with a short update. She said recovery efforts were still underway with the priority being victim recovery. Due to incoming snow and difficult weather conditions, there was only a short window to retrieve the wreckage. “Please understand that some difficult conditions, because this is on an ice floe, which is moving about five miles a day,” Homendy said. A tracker was placed on the plane so they know where it is, and can follow it, Homendy told the Nugget in a phone call. The goal is to recover the bodies first.
After an initial overview of the crash, Homendy extended condolences to the communities of the Norton Sound region.
“NTSB knows that villages like Nome and Alaska aviation are tight knit communities, so this tragedy affects so many,” Homendy said. “Please know that we'll work diligently to determine how this happened, with the ultimate goal of improving safety here in Alaska and across the United States.”
Homendy said it is still too early to determine the cause of the crash. NTSB personnel could be in Nome for a couple weeks, then additional work will be done, possibly in a lab, Homendy told the Nugget.
“It’ll take about 30 days for us to issue a preliminary report with factual information, and then it could take about a year so to complete the investigation. But during that time, if we see any sort of safety deficiencies, we won't hesitate to issue an urgent safety recommendation or urgent safety recommendation report,” she said.

Recovery
All of Saturday, the blue skies above Nome were abuzz with heavy helicopter traffic. Helicopters were slinging parts of the wrecked plane from the site to Nome. Bering Air did ground its flights on Friday but also resumed flight services to the surrounding communities on Saturday. Communities welcomed the Bering Air planes with shows of support, coming out to the runway to greet the commuter planes and their pilots.
Bering Air issued a statement saying, “At this incredibly difficult time, Bering Air would like to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support we have received. The tragic accident that occurred on February 6, 2025, has shaken us all to our core. This has been an unprecedented event for both our team and our customers, and we are truly heartbroken by the loss.”
“It is crucial for us to share with you that the decision to resume flying so soon is not taken lightly,” the statement continues. “As the sole provider of essential air travel in our region, we are deeply aware of the critical needs of the traveling public—whether for medical appointments, accessing life-saving medications, or other urgent travel needs. We feel a deep responsibility to continue serving these needs, even as we cope with the profound impact of this tragedy.”
As the bodies were flown to Nome and families were informed, the Alaska State Troopers released the names of the crash victims.